Nelson Arruda is the first monthly winner of the RG Fantasy League.

Owing to a stroke of fortune that resulted in his first-choice selections of Alex Bruce and Paul Dummett, defenders for Hull City and Newcastle United respectively, being substituted automatically for Steven Caulker, of Queens Park Rangers, and Ryan Shawcross, of Stoke City, Arruda received an 11-point boost that allowed him to go to the top of our tables at the end of August.

Arruda’s squad, gloriously named “O Glorioso”, have amassed 196 points from the first three gameweeks after returns of 57, 78 and 65, which includes a four-point deduction last week for one transfer over the permissible limit of two.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, who has enjoyed a fantastic start to the season as Swansea playmaker after a season in the margins at Tottenham Hotspur, was Arruda’s leading scorer last week with 11 points. The decision to appoint him as captain also worked a treat for Arruda, as those points counted double.

In second place seven points behind is the unhelpfully named A TD, who manages “ATD441”, with Wendell Ebbin and “50 Shades of Red” third on 188.

Meanwhile, Mick Ward, the coach of Flanagan’s Onions, will be gutted not to be our first monthly winner, having set the pace after the first two gameweeks. “Micky’s Blue Onions” followed gameweeks of 74 and 63 points with a relatively downbeat 50 after Aaron Ramsey, his captain, was kept in check in Arsenal’s insipid 1-1 draw away to Leicester City last Sunday.

Premier League football does not return until September 13 because of the international break, which should give managers, especially those who have got off to slow starts, enough time to rethink their strategies and come back firing.

RG Fantasy League standings, page 28